Tourist and fisherman killed in Kenya hippo attacks

A Chinese tourist died after he was attacked when he was taking pictures near Lake Naivasha, hours after a hippo killed a fisherman in the same area.

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Hippopotamus

A Chinese tourist died after he was attacked by a hippo when he was taking pictures on the shore of Lake Naivasha in the Rift Valley, just hours after a hippo killed a local fisherman in the same area, Kenya’s wildlife authority said.

A second Chinese tourist was injured in the incident on Saturday night and received treatment in the local hospital in Naivasha, 91 kilometres (56 miles) south east of Nairobi, the Kenya Wildlife Service said in a statement.

In the same area, a fisherman was attacked by another hippo a few kilometres from the scene of the first incident where the Chinese died, a police official said.

“The man was bitten on the chest and his injuries were serious and he died minutes after he was retrieved from the lake,” said Rift Valley head of criminal investigations Gideon Kibunja.

The deaths brought to six the number of people who have been killed by hippos around Lake Naivasha so far this year.

Wildlife service spokesman Paul Udoto said the circumstances in which the two Chinese were attacked are not clear.

He said attacks on tourists are rare because they are usually protected by guides.

Mr Udoto said hippos and lone buffalo pose the greatest danger to humans and there have been many attacks in which civilians and even rangers have lost their lives.